Today was both smoky and cloudy at Mt. Baker - quite a combination, providing for unique kind of haziness and visual effects.

Parking lot at Artist Point still had a couple spots left at 10.30 am. I began my hike at 10.47 am, to some sun breaking through clouds, casting bleak yellow light through smoke - although there was not much smell. As I hit the trail, I was immediately greeted by enormous amount of blueberries - something that would eventually become the greatest obstacle on my hike.

Moving along the hike was uneventful, except for a party of hikers with several large dogs not on leashes - one obviously ran away, so they were trying to call it back (and still didn’t think to leash what was left). The trail was very dry and dusty, with just a couple minor streams that would likely not be a good water source. Wildflowers were still blooming - even though withering, they were a nice surprise so late in the season.

At some point, I came across the most generous blueberry heaven ever - to be fair, with Ptarmigan Ridge being my usual fall hike, I knew that patch would be there, but amount of berries still came as a surprise. Who cares about views, even as grand as Mt. Baker and Mt. Shuksan, when there’s such abundance of delicious berries? Needless to say, my speed dropped to feet per hour for some time. A little rain would be nice to rinse the berries from dust, but doesn’t it make them more organic after all.

After consuming despicable amount of blueberries, I moved on and soon came to the ridge with open views of Mt. Baker, some lingering snowfields that can be totally avoided, and some almost unnaturally bright patches of green grass and yellow flowers.

As I passed the campsites around tarns - looking absolutely extraterrestrial in cloudy weather - the upstream from the valley between Ptarmigan Ridge and Mt. Baker started blowing clouds across the trail, hindering the views and reducing visibility and temperature severely. At that point, about 4.2 mi into the trail, I deemed it unreasonable to proceed (let alone attempt climbing The Portals), and turned around.

Return hike was quiet and only interrupted by unavoidable delay at the blueberry patch. I returned to the parking lot at 2.47, exactly 4 hours and 8.2 miles after leaving it - don’t let this timing represent difficulty of the trail, as it includes at least an hour of blueberry picking. 

As described, this is a beautiful and well-maintained trail with tremendous panoramic views. At 8:30 AM, the parking lot was about 25% full and I later learned that it never did completely fill up. There were always one or two spots available. The air was hazy to start but later cleared up considerably thanks to a welcome breeze. The huckleberries were ripe! I heard pika, but never saw them. There were more wildflowers on this trail than I have ever seen at this time of the season. It was downright verdant in some spots! It was an exquisite day.

This trail offers Variations on a theme; luckily it's a very nice theme on balance (in both senses of balance). When R. put out a notice to the High and Outside group, I eagerly signed up, and nine of us met in Bellingham to pool two cars for the drive to Artist Point. When we arrived at about 9:45, the parking lot was nowhere near full, contrary to some dire warnings we had read. Maybe it was the combination of being a Wednesday, a little wildfire haze in the air (not much), and a forecast including a slight chance of thundershowers in the afternoon. 

We were on the trail at 10:08 (I looked), and almost immediately into the first Variation on the Theme: A long, fairly level sidehill trek on the Chain Lakes trail, mostly rocky. Some nice late-summer flowers--fireweed, asters, golden daisies, little campanulas, pearly everlasting. Views of Shuksan and Kulshan. 

At the junction of the Chain Lakes and Ptarmigan Ridge trails, the second Variation: the ominous descent into the valley of Swift Creek, ominous because we'd need to climb back out again in the afternoon when we'd be dog tired. Still rocky, but a bit more minor-key: downhill on little rocks, sometimes steep, sometimes on top of big rocks. But more flowers, now including lupine; yellow and mink Mimulus trumpets in the streamlets; puffballs of butterbur; saxifrage; paler purple, almost-white asters. 

Then the climb back up, the third Variation: still little rocks on top of big rocks, but upward, presaging a slippy afternoon descent. By this time the group of nine was beginning to string out, a good thing since no one coming the other way would want to pass nine hikers. We gathered again at the top of the next ridge, 5200 feet, at around 11:30 for our first sandwich, garden tomato, and energy bar break. Despite the climb, it was hard to feel sweaty or sun-baked, because of a cooling breeze and the cooling cover of some high clouds. The views of Kulshan expanded as those of Shuksan remained, both just slightly haze-muted by the pesky Olympic and BC fires that now seem to be a regular feature of late summer in the climate-changing Pacific Northwest. 

We began the 4th Variation at just after noon, proceeding up another long, slightly ascending rocky sidehill, this time across alternating soil and scree, at one point featuring a hillside completely carpeted in pearly everlasting. Successive ridges kept promising a more comprehensive view of Kulshan until we finally found it at our second lunch spot below Coleman Pinnacle, 5800 feet, with a bonus view of green Goat Lake below. A 360º video from a little knoll with a small windbreak gave a haze-attenuated view of mountains all around. 

At this point the gathered group made different decisions: some decided to go ahead, some to linger at this spot, having had enough variations on the same theme. I went ahead with the 5th Variation; steeper this time, still rocky, and was rewarded with closer-up views of Kulshan and the sole sighting of beargrass (much more common farther south in my experience than here in the North Cascades), and we reached the high point of the trail, about 6100 feet, at about 2:00. I decided not to go on, since it would have meant down and then up again, so I turned around at about 2:30 and met some of the folks waiting back at the second lunch spot, and proceeded back through the 4th, 3rd, 2nd, and 1st variations. 

The way back felt a bit treacherous to my aging sense of balance. Not ordinarily a hiking pole person, I gladly used my single pole to creep gingerly down some of the steeper reaches of little rocks on top of big rocks. Fell once and banged my tailbone, but nothing serious. 

The way back was not without its treats. The breeze that had been cooling us all day was scouring the haze out of the view of Shuksan. I saw flowers I had missed on the way up, including the day's only paintbrush, an orangey variant dulled by dust, and a little pale yellow mat that I haven't identified yet. And a corn lily against the distant background of Kulshan and ominous-looking clouds was my favorite photo subject of the day. 

We were back at the parking lot at 5:38, so four hours in and three out. I didn't find out until the next day that R. and J. had gone on to Camp Kizer; I have a feeling I didn't miss too much, but that's up to them to decide. 

I think this would be an ideal hike for those who don't know how far they want to go into the alpine landscape, and also in the future for those of us not that far from turning 80. Even completing Variation 1 gives a good picture of what is on offer (though it might not be worth the drive); finishing Variation 3 and hanging out at the top of the first ridge would make a nice day if you didn't want to go farther. And if you did, you would certainly be rewarded for continuing. We were. 

Beautiful sunrise hike. Few to no people at the start of the hike picked up as the day went on. Many excellent backpacking sites along the route. A few small snow fields left near the end some had detours around but one or two needed crossing, easily crossed.

Bring plenty of water! This was a hot, sunny day and I made the mistake of not bringing a water filter with us so we were very dry by the time we got back to artist point. It was late enough that everything was closed so we had to wait to drink up at the ranger station in Glacier on the way home and I highly recommend either bringing extra water bottles or a water filter to use at Goat Lake for the return trip. 

It was quite busy, as expected for a Sunday, but we found rockstar parking and made good time on the trail, although most people seem unaware of trail etiquette for allowing the uphill hiker to pass. We were pleased to find the blueberries in peak condition and just plunked down in the blueberry fields to reach out our hands and harvest the goodness, leaving our lips and fingertips blue for the rest of the hike. Blueberries have to be one of the best inventions ever.

This is a very rocky and dry trail although there are several little streams crossing it here and there deep enough to get hands into to splash cold water on a hot head or dunk a hat into. Below the ridges the heat was oppressive but up above there was a refreshing breeze that was very welcome.

There were only a couple of minor snow patches to cross near the end and we had no problem although there were some parties that were experiencing difficulties with less experienced members needing assistance. The trail down to Goat Lake was, true to form, loose and slippery scree and sand for the first 500 feet or so before leveling off across the plateau to the lake, where we enjoyed a delightful and refreshing swim before huffing and puffing back up to the main trail for the return trip. The swim is worth the extra effort.

This was our first time doing it as a day hike, having spent the night out there a few times prior. It's a big hike, although the fact that you start high means there aren't many sections where you gain or lose much elevation quickly so it's a pleasure as the miles disappear beneath your feet. Bring your sunscreen as there is very little shade along the entire trail.